A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to the art of methods and apparatuses for cleaning the interior of a mower deck.
B. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the art that vegetation clippings gather on the under side of a mower deck during the mowing of grass or other vegetation. The clippings prevent efficient operation of the mower deck. It is therefore desirable to keep the under side of the mower deck clean.
Cleaning the under side of a mower deck may require the operator to disconnect the mower deck and/or flip over the mower deck to gain access to the under side. This process can be cumbersome and messy. In that mower decks and the mowers to which they are attached are heavy, it may be difficult to flip over the mower deck.
One type of cleaning apparatus for mower decks includes water nozzles fixedly attached to a mower deck; the water nozzle having a discharge end disposed interior to the mower deck housing and positioned facing toward the ground. In this manner, the water simply drips out of the end water nozzle. Supply water is connected to an inlet end of the nozzle extending exterior to the mower deck housing. One aspect of this type of nozzle is that the water is simply dropped vertically from the nozzle discharge end onto the mower blade, wherein the water is subsequently dispersed about the interior on the mower deck during operation thereof. However, this is inefficient for cleaning the entire surface of the interior of the mower deck unless numerous water nozzles are implemented.
The present invention provides methods and apparatuses for cleaning the interior side of a mower deck without having to maneuver the mower and by introducing water to clean the under side of the mower deck in an effective manner by uniquely positioning and orienting water nozzles with respect to the rotation of the mowing blades. This is accomplished in a way that minimizes the number of nozzles required to clean the mower deck